title: Endocrine alterations in the equine athlete: an update.
abstract: Horses spend most of their day eating, standing, and occasionally exercising. Exercise can range from running in a pasture to athletic training. Under resting conditions, horses easily maintain the internal environment. The performance of work or exercise is a major physiologic challenge, a disturbance to homeostasis that invokes an integrative response from multiple organ systems. The response to exercise involves endocrine and neuroendocrine signaling associated with the short-term and adaptive control of many systems. The coordinated control of multiple physiologic variables is essential for achieving regulation to maintain the integrity of the internal environment of the body.
authors.affiliation: Equine Science Center, Department of Animal Science, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 84 Lipman Drive, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-8525, USA. mckeever@aesop.rutgers.edu
authors.forename: Kenneth Harrington
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: McKeever
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D004702:Endocrine Glands / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology*; D006736:Horses / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D014882:Water-Electrolyte Balance / Q000502:physiology